About Marcin Smok

Marcin Smok is a reefer and aspiring photographer. He has been keeping freshwater fish tanks since he was 9. About three years ago he put his snorkeling mask on in Florida Keys and that's how his journey with saltwater side of the hobby started. He is also a SCUBA diver. You can check his photography site at www.photoreef.com

High power light emitting diodes quickly became the new standard in providing an artificial light source for photosynthetic animals in our reef tanks. Most emitters output enough light to grow almost any coral in captivity, thus aquarium LED manufacturers shifted their focus to the software part of their lights in order to sell their product. Therefore, it’s all about control now…… More:

Most of articles about DIY LED projects for our saltwater tanks focus on providing an adequate lighting solution for photosynthetic corals and other light-loving invertebrates. In this article, I would like to write about something different instead- how to lit-up things inside the stand that support our display tanks.… More:

Despite the falling prices of new LED lights coming out, DIY approach is still the most cost-effective solution along with the highest level of custom-ability and an unmeasurable amount of fun and pride of building something yourself. In one of my previous reviews I wrote about Rapid LED solderless kit (check it here LINK), an interesting solution for people who are eager to go the DIY route but don’t want to hassle with the soldering part of it. Recently, staff at RapidLED made few changes to their solderless kits and I received the redesigned package for review. Let’s see what’s new in this DIY kit…… More:

Every now and then aquarium industry is pleased with a device that raise eyebrows of fishkeeping enthusiasts and becomes a topic of discussion on internet forums, facebook walls as well as reefers’ get-togethers around the web. May it be for an incredible engineering, a beautiful design, a remarkable innovation or just for the simple confusion of hobbyist trying to figure out the purpose of it’s existence in the reefing world. Algae Mower Vac, the creation of one wise engineer, mister Kong Ho, surfaced in the reefing world at this year’s MACNA in Dallas and it quickly became one of the most interesting new things at the show’s floor. Is it good-looking? Well, if you are a fan of steampunk-like weapons, it surely will acquire to your taste. For the rest of us, the little aquatic tool is rather a weird looking stick than a piece of art. However, it shines in two other departments- innovation and effectiveness. How well it does that? I’ll explain in the rest of this product review, so stick around…… More:

All photographs by author2012 MACNA in Dallas welcomed many coral&fish vendors from every part of United States and they didn’t disappoint show attendees by bringing some of the most beautiful and healthy marine creatures, including sponges, photosynthetic and non- photosynthetic corals, clams, anemones and other sessile invertebrates. I don’t know if you agree with me, but… More:

Coral Vue, the company behind Reef Octopus line of reef equipment, recently debuted with their own line of glass aquariums and showed them at 2012 Macna floor in Dallas. They’re called Reef Octopus Luxury Systems and advertise as fully functional saltwater systems with a large degree of customization. Let’s take a closer look on what Coral Vue offers with this new addition to it’s product catalog…… More:

New Era is an UK based aquatic company that specializes in fish food diets for the marine and freshwater aquarium. They recently partnered with Living Color, a custom tank manufacturer and the guys behind National Geographic reality show “Fish Tank Kings”, to promote and distribute their products on the North American soil. The company’s main focus points are fish dietary needs and it has quite a range of foods available for both the freshwater as well as saltwater side of hobby.… More:

GHL, a German company known in US mainly for their Profilux Aquacontroller, has a brand new LED light that has been already labeled as one of the most advanced, high-end fixtures available on the market today. Although GHL didn’t have a dedicated booth at 2012 MACNA, one of the coral vendors had the new light on display and I managed to learn some interesting things about this new product.… More:

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